[UPDATE-2 Bathroom bill killed.] Arizona legislature to consider making it a crime for trans people to use “opposite sex” bathrooms without proper paperwork

THE GUERRILLA ANGEL REPORT — UPDATED-2 — June 9, 2013: Lack of support from colleagues prompts AZ state legislator to drop “bathroom Bill”.

Excerpts from the Ahwatukee Foothills News:

“Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said Wednesday that colleagues remain concerned about the issue of those who biologically are men in women’s locker rooms or showers. But he said there isn’t enough time to craft a version that can get the needed votes for what was quickly dubbed the “bathroom bill.” . . .

“We don’t want to have young girls in women’s locker rooms being exposed to basically biological men in a state of undress,” he said at the time.

He originally sought to make it a crime, complete with a six-month jail term, for someone to use a facility where the sign on the door did not match the person’s genitals. That proved unacceptable.

So he tried an alternative: Void any local law that requires a business to let individuals use the restroom, locker or dressing room of his or her “gender identity or expression.” It also would have barred prosecution of businesses for refusing to let someone in a restroom the owner does not believe is gender appropriate.

While that was approved by the House Appropriations Committee, it failed to gain much traction in the rest of the chamber. Kavanagh said Wednesday the issue is pretty much dead this year. . . .

This bit of news came from Brahm Resnik, a political writer from AZcentral.com in an article titled: Show me your papers’ — before you pee.

This is from the bill (SB 1432):

A PERSON COMMITS DISORDERLY CONDUCT IF THE PERSON INTENTIONALLY ENTERS A PUBLIC RESTROOM, BATHROOM, SHOWER, BATH, DRESSING ROOM OR LOCKER ROOM AND A SIGN INDICATES THAT THE ROOM IS FOR THE EXCLUSIVE USE OF PERSONS OF ONE SEX AND THE PERSON IS NOT LEGALLY CLASSIFIED ON THE PERSON’S BIRTH CERTIFICATE AS A MEMBER OF THAT SEX.

Resnik says that the bill is intended for transgender people, making it a crime for them to use a bathroom that doesn’t match the gender on their birth certificate. The hearing for this bill is scheduled 2 p.m. Wednesday (March 20th).

[UPDATED: March 20, 2013] The hearing has been postponed. This is from The Republic:

“The furor surrounding Phoenix’s new anti-discrimination law has found its way to the state Capitol, with opponents pushing a bill that would block many transgender people from using the public bathroom of their choosing. But in a surprise move, a scheduled hearing on the legislation was postponed Wednesday afternoon until sometime next week.

Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, wants to create Arizona’s first law governing restroom privileges. Under Senate Bill 1432, someone would be guilty of disorderly conduct if he or she uses a bathroom, locker room or dressing room that’s not designated for the sex listed on his or her birth certificate.

. . .

Kavanagh submitted the proposal as a “strike everything” amendment to an existing bill, meaning it strikes out all the original language and uses its shell to advance an entirely different proposal. Because it has an emergency clause, the law would go into effect immediately if the governor signs it.

SB 1432 would make it illegal to enter a bathroom if signage indicates it is exclusively for the opposite sex. Authorities could charge violators with a Class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by a $2,500 fine and up to six months in jail.”

31 replies

does this include men/women, who have to use the other gender toilets, if the other toilet is closed, being cleaned, etc or they have a child, that is of the opposite gender to the parent, that needs to go, (ie father taking his very young daughter in to the mens, or a mother taking her son into the Womens, would the child be in trouble)

are you serious?!? why don’t you spend taxpayers money on something else like bigger jails and actually keep criminals in jail and not release them from “good behavior” which is just a cop out for we have no more room for you and you can’t pay us anymore to keep you in. so go out and murder again why don’t ya……….stupid politicians! stop aiming your stupid bullets at the LGBT people and aim them where they really count!!!!

I love you my brother. I’ve pointed this issue out several times since yesterday. Every one forgets F2Ms or Female non conformists. I would pay money to see the look on Jan Brewer’s face if you walked in to the restroom while she was there. I would love to hear the supporters of this bill react when our big, handsome, transman bear brothers are forced to use the wrong bathroom.
Way to shoot yourself in the foot rightwing… here’s your sign.

This is DUSGUSTING! Trans people do not act, think, dress the “opposite” gender just to peep at people in the restroom. That’s like saying gay men shouldn’t be allowed in men’s restrooms. I am very disappointed and wish i didnt live in a state with such blatant discrimination. I have a transgender male to female girlfriend and I want her to have all the same rights as me and any other woman.

ATTENTION TRANS PEOPLE AND OTHER WOMEN AND MEN AND THE WHOLE COUNTRY …ARIZONA WANTS TO MAKE IT ILLEGAL TO SHIT AND PISS WITHOUT PROVING WHATS BETWEEN YOUR LEGS . SO IF YOU HAVE TO SHIT OR PISS YOU WILL JUST HAVE TO HOLD IT…NO WAIT LETS JUST SHIT ON THERE SHOES…SERIOUSLY..IT’S TIME TO FIGHT BACK BIOTCHES.

I don’t know about the US but here in the UK you have to live in your acquired gender role for 2 years (yes that includes using the relevant toilets) before they let you change your legal gender. To me this just looks like a giant catch 22 road block, and yes you are quite right, they seem to have conveniently forgotten the existence of trans men and the wide variety of gender non-conformity outside the realm of trans women.
Looks like a poorly considered disaster waiting to unfold.
Tread carefully Arizona, and preferably not on us trans-folks.

No one has ever accused the UK of having the worst educational system in the developed world. People in the UK, as I have experienced them, act with a far higher degree of reason and thought than we do here. The US is the prohibition nation. Don’t like something outlaw it, don’t like someone, outlaw them. Person’s too brown, outlaw them, person loves the wrong person, outlaw it, person’s bits don’t fit their identity, outlaw them. So, of course this might seem unreasonable and foolish to you… But to millions of fundamentalist christian, panic driven, reactionary americans, this will seem perfectly reasonable.

This was an off the wall wacko and doesn’t represent the majority of Arizonians, me included. Obviously he’s a control freak. I can tell you as a straight female in Arizona. I WILL use the men’s bathroom in an emergency. This is NOT a crime.

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Lexie Cannes is the stage name of a transwoman activist who is an actress and film maker as well as one of the country’s leading bloggers on transgender topics. “The Guerrilla Angel Report” is an unrelenting source of transgender news from around the country and around the world and Lexie is followed by thousands of people inside and outside of the trans community. . . . She is an exceptional journalist and her blog is a definitive look at the state of the transgender community today.
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